WHAT'S GOING ON WITH INTERIOR DESIGN, NATIONWIDE?

Adorning your home with original artwork can be costly. But home decorating doesn’t have to cost a fortune. With a little creativity and a few primitive decorating tips, ordinary items around your house can become the homemade accent pieces and personal touches that will make your house into a home. Place the pictures from last year’s calendar in frames and you can add a nice touch to a home office or the guest room.

Certain colors blend unremarkably with other colors; the same colors in differing intensity or shades can become markedly emphasized. Small objects in a room can be made prominent if their colors contrast with the background colors of the room. Texture is another factor that adds to the general feeling of a room. Bark cloth, slate, brick, glass, plaster, glazed chintz, damask, linen, polished wood, silk, wool, linoleum, and tile—all have different textures that can add to the effect of a decorative scheme.

The easy down-to-earth attractiveness of primitive country style is something that never changes. The basis of the look is white walls, knotty pine floor, handmade plank doors, 4-inch window casings with crosspiece mullions and curtains made from homespun, plain natural cotton woven by hand. Since primitive furnishings were made by hand, look for beautiful handmade pieces at the local flea market.